Biotechnology
Puzzle of natural antifreeze closer to being unlocked
June 23, 2011 1:08 pm | News | CommentsCompounds that act as natural antifreeze are used for protecting drugs, food and tissues. One common type of cryoprotectant features osmolyte molecules. Researchers have found that larger osmolytes are better at protecting proteins than smaller ones. The results could have major implications for the pharmaceutical industry, which loses product to the freezing process.
Pinpointing cyanobacterial genes that capture the sun's energy
June 23, 2011 10:57 am | News | CommentsA new computer model of blue-green algae can predict which of the organism's genes are central to capturing energy from sunlight and other critical processes.
Molecular robot programmed to follow instructions
June 22, 2011 1:08 pm | News | CommentsThe robot, a short strand of DNA, follows instructions programmed into a set of fuel molecules determining its destination. For example, it can turn left or right at a junction in a track. Others have created similar DNA bots that move autonomously, but this one relies on a new invention. It gets both its movement energy and routing instructions from the same molecule, the fuel hairpin.
Nanoscale bone samples now supply trove of information
June 22, 2011 8:04 am | News | CommentsA new technique developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute allows researchers to collect large amounts of biochemical information from a very small amount of bone. Researchers hope the innovation will help combat osteoporosis and possibly usher in a proteomics-based approach to analyzing bone quality.
Can humans sense the Earth's magnetism?
June 21, 2011 12:22 pm | News | CommentsWe’ve long known that some birds and sea turtles sense the Earth’s magnetic field as a tool for navigating through long-distance migrations. New research now shows that the human retina protein, CRY2, has the molecular capability to function as a light-sensitive magnetic sensor, reopening an area of sensory biology for further exploration.
Excitable cells able to generate and pass electrical current
June 21, 2011 6:37 am | by Richard Merritt | News | CommentsBy altering the genetic makeup of normally “unexcitable” cells, Duke University bioengineers have turned them into cells capable of generating and passing electrical current. The researchers achieved this transformation by introducing genes into the cells that form ion channels which are openings, or gates, on the surface of cells.
Engineers create world’s smallest fuel cell, powered by biology
June 20, 2011 12:19 pm | News | CommentsThe new device, the size of a single strand of human hair, generates energy from the metabolism of bacteria on thin gold plates in micro-manufactured channels. The fuel cell recruits necessary bacteria to create a biofilm that utilizes natural organic compounds as fuel to generate power.
Nanosized diamonds enable progress in retinal prostheses
June 17, 2011 12:21 pm | by Annette Östrand | News | CommentsResearch groups in several countries are making progress in retinal prosthesis development. These inventions range from digital camera-type electrode arrays and photodiode arrays to photoelectric dyes. One of the most recent projects involves the use of a new types of nanotransducer that is based on artificial nanocystalline diamond.
Electrical brain switch turns memory on or off
June 17, 2011 9:54 am | News | CommentsAfter analyzing the neural learning mechanism in rats, USC biomedical engineers have duplicated it electronically and added it to the rats as a prosthesis. Flip the switch and rats remember. Flip it off, and they forget. Stranger still, the device seemed to strengthen the rats' natural learning process.
Controlling the environment to direct stem cell differentiation
June 17, 2011 4:13 am | News | CommentsStem cell technologies have been proposed for cell-based diagnostics and regenerative medicine therapies. However, being able to make stem cells efficiently develop into a desired cell type limits the clinical potential of these technologies. New research shows that systematically controlling the local and global environments during stem cell development helps to effectively direct the process of differentiation.
Study reveals signalling secrets across cell membranes in plants
June 15, 2011 1:08 pm | News | CommentsTransmembrane signaling in animal cells has been significantly more studied and observed than that in plant cells. But now, researchers have published new observations about transmembrane signaling in plants and have discovered that it is fundamentally different than the same functions in animals.
Cardiac cells might help fix heart attack damage
June 9, 2011 11:55 am | News | CommentsIn an embryo certain cells help build the heart, but in adulthood they generally go dormant. Scientists in the United Kingdom say they've found these cells in the hearts of mice and that they can make new muscle after a heart attack, raising hopes that doctors can one day help the human heart repair itself.
An alternative to antibiotics?
June 7, 2011 12:45 pm | News | CommentsAntibiotics are among the greatest achievements of medical science. But bacteria are increasingly developing resistance to once-potent drugs. Researchers are scrambling for an alternative, and researchers in Germany say they have found one in a therapeutic equivalent that could replace penicillin and related pharmaceuticals.
Researchers build bio-circuits and the microscopy method to look at them
June 7, 2011 11:50 am | News | CommentsBiological circuitry recently made the news when Caltech announced they had produced multiple biological transistors. Now, Univ. of Pennsylvania researchers describe their efforts to form their own electronic circuitry using biological molecules, as well the new microscopy technique they invented to measure the electrical properties of these and other devices.
Potential treatment for E. coli disease
June 7, 2011 7:04 am | News | CommentsA potential life-saving treatment for severe E. coli food poisoning outbreaks—developed more than a decade ago—hasn't gone forward into clinical trials because of lack of commercial interest. Univ. of Adelaide researchers produced a "designer" probiotic bacterium which binds and neutralizes the toxin produced by E. coli , which causes life-threatening attack on the kidneys and blood vessels.
Largest-ever biochemical circuit pieced together from DNA
June 3, 2011 5:38 am | by Marcus Woo | News | CommentsFrom scratch, Caltech researchers have built the most complex biochemical circuit ever created. DNA-based devices, analogous to electronic transistors, were built from molecules in test tubes. The key to making the circuit work was to design the pieces to be as simple as possible.
Researchers build largest biochemical circuit
June 3, 2011 4:23 am | by Marcus Woo | News | CommentsIn many ways, life is like a computer. An organism's genome is the software that tells the cellular and molecular machinery—the hardware—what to do. But instead of electronic circuitry, life relies on biochemical circuitry. Now, researchers at Caltech have built the most complex biochemical circuit ever created from scratch, made with DNA-based devices in a test tube that are analogous to the electronic transistors on a computer chip.
Bizarre bacteria “conducts” electricity with grown wires
June 1, 2011 6:54 am | by Mary Beckman | News | CommentsA collaborative research from the UK and Pacific Northwest National Lab have unlocked the first details of the structure of proteins used to transfer oxygen ions. The Shewanella oneidensis uses these ions to live, and sources them from rocks and minerals onto which it grows tiny “wires”. These insights could help researchers immobilize metal contaminants or engineer bio-inspired fuel cells.
Molecular motors test the limits of measurement
May 31, 2011 7:21 am | News | CommentsWayne Frasch, a scientist at Arizona State Univ., has undertaken a particularly difficult task. He’s trying to figure out how two molecular machines, the Fo and the F1, work together in a living cell’s lipid membrane. Not only are these motors 10,000 smaller than the width of a piece of paper, they also operate on time scales that until recently have been impossible to measure.
Biological circuitry: Nature remade in the lab
May 26, 2011 8:41 am | by Lynn Yarris | News | CommentsResearchers dealing in synthetic biology are attracted to the field for its deep and potentially important range of possibilities for both health and understanding of genetics. However, it is still a relatively new scientific field plagued with the trial and error. Berkeley Lab scientists and others are now looking toward traditional circuitry, using RNA, to lend order and predictability to complex functions.
New gene expression technique uses just 100 nanograms of RNA
May 18, 2011 5:34 am | News | CommentsIn recent years, next-generation DNA sequencers have produced an increasingly detailed picture of how genes are expressed at the molecular level. Researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center have recently adapted a new gene expression technique for single molecule sequencing that reduces biases and generates highly reproducible data while using very little RNA.
Researchers regenerate retinas with stem cells
May 16, 2011 11:08 am | News | CommentsScientists from Harvard’s Schepens Eye Research Institute are the first to regenerate large areas of damaged retinas and improve visual function using induced pluripotent stem cells derived from skin.
Researchers counteract biofuel toxicity in microbes
May 12, 2011 4:23 am | News | CommentsResearchers at the Joint BioEnergy Institute have created a library of microbial efflux pumps that reduce toxicity and boost production of biofuels in engineered strains of microbes. This library and the bioprospecting strategy behind it should serve as valuable new tools for the development of advanced biofuels and other areas of biotechnology as well.
Scientists identify possible human lung stem cell
May 11, 2011 1:40 pm | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsStem cells have been found in bone marrow and some other parts of the body, but until a recent study that showed positive effects on lungs in mice it hasn't been clear whether such a versatile cell existed in the lung. The discovery suggests that stem cells in the lung can make a wide variety of the organ's tissues.
Sugar synthesis hits the sweet spot
May 6, 2011 3:51 pm | News | CommentsThough notoriously difficult to make, complex sugar molecules that certain bacteria use to build their protective cell walls have been synthesized by researchers at Japan’s RIKEN Institute. They think the construct could be used to unravel the defensive mechanisms of the bacteria that causes tuberculosis.
